My snow goggles

I have always wanted a pair of these

A pair of Inuit style snow goggles made from wood, a white willow branch with two thin slits cut into it to see through, a nose and forehead groove, and white leather straps to tie it around your head.

A pair of wooden snow goggles, a branch with thin slits carved into it to allow you to see while protecting you fron snow blindness, with white leather straps, sitting on a wooden table. The snow goggles, hanging on a pair of snowshoes in the corner of the room.
For years, and years and years and YEARS and years and years, I have always wanted a pair of Inuit snow goggles. As mentioned in the indigenous page, I had always been interested in indigenous culture. Maybe because I was told when I was young that there was indigenous ancestry in us, maybe it was associated with the Spirituality calling me from way back then, but I've always wanted a pair of these snow goggles. I'd seen a pair in 2024, 3d printed in plastic, available on Etsy, but irritatingly when I had finally saved up enough and went to order it, the seller sent on seemingly permanent hiatus. There were others etc etc, but this one was nice and plain, no fancy lines added, anyways. So since my plastic pair was no longer available, I decided to try making a pair. Besides, they would fit better then! And so we set out.

Now in my pile o' branches that I brought over to England, I had a number of generally smallerish pieces, and found this debarked piece of willow that was almost the perfect length, just needed an inch lopped off of it. So going more or less off of just photos online, I split the little branch in half, which thankfully had like no branch knots or curves in the grain. After that, we pulled out the carving tools and got to work. Good old scorp! The inside of the branch was fairly spongy, but the outside was rock solid which was kinda nice, so hollowing it out was pretty easy, after which we could carve the nose and forehead grooves to perfectly (for now) fit my face.

I soon realized that the sides of the branch were allowing a fair amount of light to get past fairly easily, so I set about soaking it in boiling water so that I could bend it to a gentle curve (which of course changes that perfect grooving, but they only got smaller meaning I just need to carve them wider again. I'd also marked with a long pencil lead where the eye slots would be, but those were re-drawn after the bending.

We finished fitting it to my face, then set about making two eye slits, just about the width of a nail file emery board, which came in handy to get an even width to the line and sand away any wood fibers that were sticking up. We made two slots for the straps, and I had a length of white leather to use for this. I added my signature to the underside of the strap where it ties around the goggles, and with that, we were complete! A quick 3 day build, it's a bit wide for my face, but in reality this is meant for display on the wall. You can indeed see through it, the lines as they approach the nose are close enough together that your vision isn't blocked off, you can see clearly straight ahead, and to either side, and yah, WOOH! I finally have a pair of traditional snow goggles :D

Finished June 24, 2025

A white willow stick, split in half, with the inside partially hollowed out with a scoop like carving blade. Some wood chips and a handful of carving tools are on the desk behind it.The goggles more fully formed, being almost entirely hollowed out, and with a forehead and nose groove carved in the center of the stick. Many more wood chips are on the desk behind it.

A closer look at the inside, where small pencil lines have been made for where the eye slits will be carved.The googles sitting under boiling hot steaming water, with a weight made up of a jar of coins with a can of beans balanced on top, to hold it underwater and begin bending it at the center.

The goggles held in a bent position with a large wooden bead and nylon straps, to be left overnight to dry like that.The goggles being held up, with the eye slits entirely carved out and sanded smooth, with holes for the straps added to either side of the eye slits.

Kabutroid's K dot T dot signature, in icy light blue ink located on the underside of the leather strap, where it is tied through the hole for the strap.Kabutroid wearing the goggles, a touch wide for her face, but definitely looking like she's meant to be on the snow fields right now.



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